In The Janitor's Closet
by libraluvr
Summary: Because even though he hadn't planned it... Tucker just couldn't pass up the opportunity.
1. Chapter 1

In The Janitor's Closet

Tucker Foley was, in a word, frustrated.

He was frustrated with his parents because they refused to get off his case about cutting his classes even though his grades hadn't dropped that much. He was frustrated with his teachers because he was absolutely sure the only thing they did at those stupid staff meetings was decide the best way to schedule every major test in the same week. He was frustrated with every stupid ghost who deemed it necessary to escape the ghost zone and attack that same week.

But most of all he was frustrated with his two best friends and their inexcusable inability to see how profoundly in love they were.

The final bell rang, but Tucker ignored it and leaned back against the shelf of cleaning supplies behind him, listening apathetically as the sound of footsteps echoed around him, rushing to leave for an entire two days of freedom. By the time Sam finished bandaging Danny, they would be able to leave without any chance of being spotted in the deserted hallway.

The trio was sitting in their favorite janitor's closet, the largest one in the whole school. It was mostly used for storage, but there were only ever a few extra boxes of supplies at any given time, leaving plenty of space for the group to use. Plus, the irregularity of its use made it easy for the group to hide their own supplies. It had come in handy more than once when Sam had needed extra medical supplies or Danny had needed a change of clothes.

Most students at Casper High didn't even know where all the janitor's closets _were_ let alone have a favorite one. Then again, Tucker and his friends could hardly be compared to normal students.

"So how long do you think your powers will be shorted out?" Sam asked.

"Not sure," Danny rasped. Vlad seemed to take a particular pleasure in grabbing him by the throat and the halfa had the bruises to prove it. "Usually when he shocks me, it's just three hours. But he made some comment about improvements, so it might be longer. Then again, I don't really listen to the fruit loop during fights."

"Because he always taunts you?" she asked

"Because he's a fruit loop," Danny and Tucker chorused. Their response was an eye roll.

Suddenly hurried footsteps were heard, causing the trio to freeze and turn their eyes to the door. The footsteps slowed as they approached the closet door. With agility gained from helping Danny ghost hunt, Tucker leapt towards the door. He grabbed the knob and held it in place just as someone attempted to turn it. Tucker held it fast, making sure it didn't budge.

"Dang it," a familiar voice panted, "Locked."

"Empty classroom… next hallway," an accented voice panted back. Their footsteps faded as they rushed down the hall towards their destination. Silence reigned in the closet for several moments.

"Was that Dash…?" Danny started sounding disturbed.

"And Paulina…?" Sam added looking slightly sick.

"About to…?" Despite his dark skin tone, Tucker looked distinctly green.

Danny and Sam shuddered, looking around the closet and desperately hoping that it had never been defiled in such a manner. Their gazes caught and after staring at each other for a moment they both blushed and looked away. Tucker shook his head at them, his gaze once more drawn to the closet door. In an effort to avoid thinking about the awkward situation that had almost transpired, he once again looked elsewhere. A key ring on a hook next to the door caught his eye. He quickly derived that it was the key used to actually lock the door.

Turning to take in his friends, he saw that Sam had resumed her nursing and Danny was quietly watching her as she worked. His gaze moved back to the key, and as he glanced between it and the determinedly dense duo, a plan began to form in his mind.

"So, you're going to be out of commission for a while, Danny?" he asked. Danny simply nodded; most of his attention was on Sam as she bandaged a gash on his arm.

Tucker shook his head at his lovesick friend. "You done yet, Sam?" he asked

"Almost," the Goth replied. She'd started rubbing bruise cream onto the purple-and-black marks littering Danny's skin. Tucker counted how many she had left and realized he didn't have much time to put his plan into action.

"Can I see your cell, Sam? Yours too, Danny," he said.

"Can't it wait?" Sam asked. She would have preferred it if Danny didn't move until he had to.

"Nope," Tucker replied. She sighed and shifted away from her patient, reaching into the pocket of her black flare jeans to retrieve her phone. Danny gingerly shifted to reach into his own pocket and handed his phone to Sam so she could hand them both to Tucker. Neither argued; they knew their tech-savvy friend was always working on new upgrades.

Tucker quickly used one of the several technological devices he always carried around with him to connect Sam's phone to his PDA. Quickly, he downloaded all of her contacts, disconnected, and did the same with Danny's phone. Both lists had increased since freshman year, due to the clubs guidance counselors and parents had forced them to join.

When he'd finished downloading Danny's contact list, he handed the pair their phones and started walking backwards towards the closet door, inconspicuously grabbing the key off the hook.

"Done," Sam proclaimed, "Let me get you a shirt." Danny graced her with a smile as she stood and moved towards the pile of extra clothes they'd stored in a large, unlabeled box. He grabbed the shirt she tossed him, gingerly slipped it on, and carefully stood.

"Great," he said, "Let's go. I still have to get my stuff from…" He was interrupted by the sound of the closet door closing. The pair turned to look at the door with blank expressions. The moment they realized Tucker was gone, was the same moment they heard the key click in the lock.

Worried, and knowing it would be hard for Danny to move quickly, Sam rushed to the door. She twisted the knob, only to find that it was locked just as she'd suspected. Using both hands to jiggle the knob, though she knew it wouldn't open, she yelled, "Tucker! Are you there? Someone let us out of here!"

Danny, who'd made it to the door, pounded on it as strongly as he could. "Let us out!"

On the other side of the door, their tech-savvy friend whistled as he twirled the key ring around his finger before shoving it in his pocket. "Sorry, kiddies," he said, "I'm sick of you two dancing around each other. I'll be back to let you out in a couple of hours. Or you can get out when Danny gets his powers back. Whichever comes first."

For a moment there was silence; then as they comprehended that he was both fine and the person who'd locked them in, their voices returned in full force. He flat-out ignored their furious bellows as he made his way down the hallway. First he went to Danny's locker, and then Sam's, grabbing all the things he knew they'd need for the weekend. Then he went back to the hall with the janitor's closet. Making sure to be as quiet as possible, he sat against the lockers next to the door. He pulled out his PDA, double-checking to make sure it was on silent. He scrolled through the contacts he'd just acquired and picked out the names he needed. Carefully, he added each contact into his own phone before sending out a mass text.

_Hey, it's Tucker. Sooo… I locked Danny and Sam in a closet. If they don't come out as a couple, I really don't have any other ideas. They have their phones so I would appreciate it if you ignored any pleas for help. Or encourage them to get together so I can let them out of there. ;)_

Within minutes he had received a plethora of responses either complimenting him on his inventiveness or expressing hope that the infamous Casper High Lovebirds would _finally_ get together. Tucker worried for a second, knowing that if this didn't work, nothing would, and the two would probably remain oblivious for the rest of their lives. Forcefully pushing those thoughts out of his mind, he settled down to wait.

Back inside the janitor's closet, Danny and Sam were nowhere near as calm. Well, Sam was nowhere near as calm.

She paced from the door to the back wall, quickly becoming frustrated because there really wasn't enough space for proper pacing. Danny was sitting leaning against the back wall, munching on a granola bar. He was somehow managing to ignore Sam as she muttered numerous death threats and continuously kicked the door with her steel toed boots.

Finally she whirled on Danny. "How can you be so calm?" she yelled. The halfa simply crumpled up his wrapper and rested his head against the wall behind him.

"First of all, I don't really have enough energy to be seriously angry right now." Sam was immediately contrite. Usually Danny had his ghost powers to keep him at least partially energized after a fight, but this time they'd been inhibited. She knew he'd been up since around 3:00 A.M. fighting ghosts and could only imagine the exhaustion he was feeling. "Second of all, we've all been friends for years. Tucker knows you well enough to know what you would do to him in retaliation for this stunt. He wouldn't have done this unless he was willing to risk going to a hospital. Since there's no way we could possibly know what he wants, I'm just going to wait until he figures out he has to tell us."

As if on cue their phones buzzed. Danny gave Sam a smug look, ignoring the eye roll she gave in return. However, his smug expression disappeared as soon as her read Tucker's text. He dragged his gaze away from the small screen to look at Sam, only to find utterly dismayed amethyst eyes staring back at him.

_I'm sick of keeping secrets from my two best friends. I'm not letting you out until you can correctly text me the name of who Danny/Sam is in love with._

**A/N: Hey guys! So this is my 6th story on this site, the first multi-chap. I've actually had it written out for about a month, but I was in school so I didn't have any time to type it up or edit it. Oh, the joys of summer vacation. Anyway, I hope you liked the first chapter. I'm looking for 10 reviews before I post the next one, so tell me what you think. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"He says he's not letting us out until I can correctly text him the name of who you love… who you're in love with," she said staring blankly at the selves of cleaning supplies to her right.

Danny looked at her, noting that her voice and gaze were distant. He'd guessed that Tucker had texted them both the same thing, but was both mortified and horrified to be proven correct. Not only did Sam know he'd been keeping things from her, she knew he'd forced Tucker to keep things from her as well.

"Yeah," he said, "Same. Except, you know, who you're in love with."

The silence that descended was foreign to them. It wasn't the silence they usually shared, the comfortable, content absence of spoken words that came with years of being friends. No, this silence was awkward, embarrassed, uncomfortable.

Sam walked to the back wall and sat next to Danny. The physical distance between them was slightly larger than normal which increased the awkwardness in the small room by about 70%.

"You told Tucker, but not me," Sam said. It came out far more accusing than she'd meant it to, especially considering she'd done the same thing, but she couldn't help wishing she'd known she really didn't have a chance.

"I didn't just tell him," Danny immediately defended. "He confronted me about it. You know how he is."

Sam acknowledged his statement with a scoff and a nod. "Yeah, I know how he is."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked quietly.

Though her face didn't show it, Danny could tell she was hurt; she felt like he didn't trust her. To be fair, being in love with someone was a fairly large secret to keep from your best friend. To be unfair, she'd done the exact same thing.

"I didn't want to ruin our friendship," he said.

Sam considered this. _'He didn't want to ruin our friendship?'_ she thought incredulously. She already knew who Danny was in love with. The same girl he'd _always_ been in love with: Paulina Sanchez.

But she knew how in love he was with Paulina, so why would he be worried about ruining their friendship. Unless he knew how she felt about him. Sam had a very un-Goth-like moment of panic, before calming herself. Even if she had been obvious about her feelings, which she was sure she hadn't been (though more and more people had been calling them lovebirds lately), Danny was far too clueless to figure it out. And if he'd somehow managed to figure it out, Tucker wouldn't have locked them in the closet.

She was satisfied with her conclusion until she realized that she still hadn't figured out what Danny meant. She returned to trying to work things out.

'_There's no way she would ever give him a serious chance,'_ she thought, _'I mean, we heard her and Dash no more than a half hour ago.'_ The Goth couldn't help but wonder why her friend was so hung up on the Latina girl. With the constant ghost fights and the genes he'd received from his father, the halfa had gained both muscle and height since their freshman year. There were a lot of other girls who would be happy to date him. Then again, once Danny's muscle mass had increased so had the bagginess of his clothes; and even though he was now far too tall to fit into a locker, he still let Dash push him around. In addition, he'd worked hard to maintain the goofy, clumsy, weak persona he'd established at the beginning of their high school career.

But all of this was his idea so that no one would figure out his alter ego. Jazz had taught them that everything was about perception; if no one thought of him as a strong and fearless, no one would ever connect Danny Fenton with Danny Phantom no matter how similarly they looked or sounded. With as hard as he'd worked there was no way Paulina, Queen of Casper High, would risk her popularity by even talking to him… unless it was to insult him. Did he think she would get on his case about not having a chance with her? Did he think she would fight with him about it?

She hadn't noticed him staring at Paulina for a while but she remembered chastising him for it the last time it happened, warning him that Paulina would never give him the time of day. Maybe he thought she would criticize him for chasing after someone who would make sure they were never caught.

Or maybe he was worried about what would happen if he did catch her. He had to know that she would never approve of their relationship. Sam had hated Paulina since long before their freshman year. In the Goth's opinion, if the Latina were to take liquid form, she would be a puddle: not even deep enough to get a person's feet wet. Was Danny afraid that she would try to mess with their relationship? The thought left Sam feeling vaguely offended. Of course she disliked (despised) Paulina, but if the Prep made Danny happy, Sam would never mess with that.

Or maybe he knew that and was afraid that in her effort to let them be she would isolate herself and they would barely see each other anymore.

Danny watched as Sam sank into thought after his confession. Emotion after emotion flickered across her face and Danny busied himself with analyzing each one as it passed.

Confusion, understanding, panic, understanding, then confusion again. She vacillated between confusion and understanding for awhile before adopting an offended expression only to continue moving between confusion and understanding. He watched her, wondering if she understood what he'd meant by that statement.

"Sam," he said. She didn't respond. "Sam." Her eyes didn't even flicker in his direction. "_Sam!"_

Sam came back to herself. She turned to look at Danny, took in his concerned expression, and realized he'd probably been calling her for a while. She tried to tamp down her blush, but only partially succeeded.

"Sorry," she said, "I just can't figure it out." She missed Danny's disappointed expression. "How would you being in love with Paulina ruin our friendship? You've been in love with her for years."

Danny stared at her for several moments before a small chuckle escaped his lips. "I'm not in love with Paulina. I was never in love with her; I just thought she was hot. I'm actually a little offended you think I'm still into her," he said pretending to look affronted.

"Oh," Sam said. This time no amount of effort would have been able to stifle the blush burning her cheeks.

Automatically her mind jumped to who she believed to be the next most logical conclusion: Valerie Gray.

Unfortunately she was having the exact same problem: how would a relationship with Valerie ruin their friendship and how could he like her so much in the first place.

Until the unfortunate accident that caused her father his job, Valerie hand never been nice to any of them. It was only after she got rejected by the popular crowd that she gained any interest in Danny. They'd gone out, but she ended their relationship even though she still liked him.

Well, she liked Danny _Fenton_. She was hell-bent on _destroying_ Danny _Phantom_. Of course Valerie had no idea Fenton and Phantom was the same person, but it really wasn't that hard to figure out. Tucker's twelve-year-old cousin had visited the summer between their freshman and sophomore years and figured it out in under a week, and Danny had been just as clumsy and uncoordinated around him as he was around everybody else. The people in their town were just abnormally oblivious. Granted, Tucker's cousin spent more time with Danny than the majority of the town, but the people closest to Danny had no excuse.

Especially not Valerie as she actually came into close contact with both Danny's on a regular basis.

Sam understood that Valerie was actually a really nice person. She also understood that anger, misunderstanding, and a thirst for revenge made a dangerous mix, one that could easily harm Danny.

If Danny and Valerie started going out, and Valerie found out that he was Phantom (which, again, really wasn't all that hard to do) she would certainly lash out in betrayal and anger; both Danny and his secret would be put at risk.

Though nothing of the sort had happened, Sam could already feel herself becoming extremely irritated with both Danny and Valerie. How could she not see that Phantom was just as good as Fenton? How could he put himself in danger for a girl who only accepted half of him?

At least she understood why Danny kept it from her. They weren't even together, yet she felt the need to smother them, to be around at all times so that he was covered in case of a ghost attack.

"_Sam!"_ Danny said. She got the feeling he'd been calling her for a while again.

"Sorry," she apologized.

"I think they could hear you thinking in the Ghost Zone," he replied.

The Goth rolled her eyes. "I was thinking about you and Valerie," she said hesitantly.

Danny's eyebrows shot up. Sam looked away, but he just leaned forward to get a better view of her face.

"I'm not in love with Valerie either," he said.

Sam blinked at him. "Then who…"

"Who are _you_ in love with?" Danny interrupted.

After several moments of silence he spoke again. "Am I going to have to guess?" he asked. Sam shrugged.

"Are you going to tell me if I guess right?" he questioned. Sam sighed.

"If you guess _correctly_," she amended, "Then yes, I'll tell you. And I get to ask you questions in return,"

"Sure," Danny said, unconcerned, "Is he alive?"

Sam gave him a look that clearly showed she was questioning his sanity.

"What?" Danny asked, "We deal with ghosts all the time and you would totally be into that."

Sam thought about that. She _did_ like Danny's lower-than-normal temperature. She _did_ love that he could use his powers to protect people, even though she hated it when he got hurt. Plus, she had to admit, flying was _awesome_.

"_Sam,_" Danny said. Her amethyst eyes snapped to his.

"Sorry," she said.

"What's up with you?" he asked, "You never space and it's happened, like, five times since we got locked in here."

Sam shook her head. '_Oh, I don't know why I keep spacing out,'_ she thought sarcastically, _'Maybe it's because Tucker locked me in a closet with you and won't let us out until I tell you how in love with you I am. On top of that, I have to figure out the girl you're in love with and why you decided to keep it from me. Maybe it's that.'_

Instead of answering Danny's question, she said, "Yes, he's alive." '_Half-alive, anyway,'_ she thought to herself.

"Okay. Do I know him?" he asked. He could barely keep the strain from his voice. Imagining Sam in the arms of a faceless boy was killing him, though he knew imagining her in the arms of someone he knew would be so much worse. Nevertheless, he couldn't seem to stifle his masochistic curiosity. Ever since he'd first read Tucker's text, his emotions had been going haywire. For the first time, he was glad he didn't have his powers; going intangible and invisible at random moments definitely would have made the current conversation a little bit harder. On the other hand, if his powers hadn't been neutralized he wouldn't be in his current situation. On the other other hand, he wouldn't put it past Tucker to have a mini ghost shield in one of his bottomless, technology-filled pockets.

Looking at Sam, his thoughts returned to the text once more.

Sam was in love with somebody and he would bet anything that somebody wasn't him. It hurt. It hurt because he knew he would never love anybody the way he loved Sam.

No one would smile the way she could, or flip their hair impatiently the way she did. No one could calm him down or cheer him up as fast as she could. No one could send his heart racing, his blood pumping, his mind spinning as fast as she could. She was beautiful and stubborn and smart and impulsive and funny and sarcastic and caring and sneaky and protective and a little judgmental and more than a little amazing in every way. In his eyes, no one else could or would ever compare.

The thought of someone else holding her the way he wasn't able to, pressing their lips to hers, touching her constantly in ways he couldn't; the thought of her having a special smile for someone that wasn't him; the thought of someone else making her happier than he could; the thought of her loving someone else on a completely different and much deeper level than she loved him; all of it tore him up inside.

He hated feeling jealous whenever another guy so much as looked at her. He hated thinking, '_She's __**mine!**__'_ whenever another boy asked her out. He hated the intense joy he felt whenever she said no, and the acute fear that next time she would say yes. He was her best friend; shouldn't he want her to be happy? Shouldn't her happiness be more important to him than how much he wanted her? Because he did want her. He wanted her every moment of every day for the rest of his life.

Sam's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "I guess… you could say you know him." Immediately Danny started mentally running through every guy he knew who also talked to Sam.

"Danny?" Sam asked. When he didn't respond, she placed a hand on his shoulder. Instantly, his blue eyes snapped to hers.

"Sorry," he said.

"Next question?" she asked giving him an understanding smile.

Danny shook his head; he didn't think he could handle anymore. He was having enough trouble dealing with the fact that it was someone he knew. "I have to think of some more, so I guess it's your turn to ask me questions."

**A/N: Yep. I did it. I left you guys with a cliffhanger. Now you _have_ to review to get the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter; I'm looking for 10 more reviews before I post the last chapter. And you guys please, please, please tell me what your favorite parts of the chapter are. I want to know that I'm doing a good job. Thank you much. Until next time! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"My turn?" Sam asked as her hand slipped off his shoulder. He nodded, his face adopting a confused expression. Sam leaned back against the wall, purposely changing her own expression from apprehensive to thoughtful. It was bad enough having him ask questions about himself (though he didn't know it was him), now she had to ask questions about who he liked. At a loss, she decided to ask the first question that popped into her head. Coincidentally, it was the same question Danny asked her.

"Is she alive?" She wondered if the look she'd given him was anything like the look he was giving her. Instead of responding verbally, she simply looked at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

The question really wasn't all that far-fetched, especially considering that he dealt with female ghosts far more often than she dealt with male ghosts. Plus, since it never usually took him long to kick their butts and send them back where they came from, the female ghosts had far more respect for him than the girls in their school, because they recognized both of Danny's forms.

Desiree was _way_ too obsessed with granting wishes, Kitty would never _really_ break it off with Johnny, Spectra was practically a senior citizen, and Dora had a whole country to run. Ember, however, was a different story.

She couldn't have been more than a couple years older than them and when she wasn't scowling she was actually kind of pretty. And though Sam would never say it out loud, she had real talent as a musician. Plus, she'd overheard some Phan-girls talking about how Danny and Ember's fights were "like, totally the result of some, like, serious sexual tension."

Luckily for Sam she hadn't gotten completely lost in her thoughts, so she heard Danny's response. "Yeah, she's alive."

Though she only made a noncommittal noise of acknowledgement, Sam was jumping for joy on the inside. She still had a chance. Quickly, Sam stopped that train of thought in its tracks. There was no way she could win when she wasn't even in the running.

The Goth had already assumed that she'd at least met Danny's girl before. He didn't talk to girls very often, and when he did, it was usually when she was nearby. Not that she followed him around, that just always seemed to be the case…. Moving on.

Sam asked her next question before the words even fully registered in her brain. "Is she pretty?"

Danny froze for a second, but quickly relaxed. His head fell back against the wall with a soft thump, and his eyes slipped closed. His lips lifted at the corners and a small, happy smile appeared on his face.

"She's gorgeous," he breathed. His mind had conjured an image of Sam on the night of their first high school dance. The black and lavender dress had hugged her curves perfectly, though she hadn't had many back then. The black fishnet sleeves had provided a striking contrast to the pale skin of her arms. For once she had been wearing more than just mascara and eyeliner. The purple eye shadow she added really made her amethyst eyes pop. When he'd seen her at the dance, it had seemed as though a spotlight was shining on her.

Danny would never forget that night. He'd been having strange feelings towards Sam for some time, but that was the night they solidified into romantic feelings. Dancing to the last song with her had been one of the greatest experiences of his life.

Sam watched him. His eyes were closed but she'd known him so long she could read him anyway. He'd relaxed back against the wall, his mind so focused he'd forgotten his injuries; the tilt of his head, the soft smile that curled the corners of his mouth upwards, all bespoke of his adoration for this nameless, faceless girl.

His eyes opened, the icy blue searing her to her soul. "She's gorgeous," he repeated.

In that instant Sam knew, knew like she knew her own name, that Danny was madly in love with this girl and nothing would change that.

She tried to mask it, the pain she was feeling, but it seeped into every corner of her heart, every crevice of her soul, quickly sapping her resolve to not let Danny see her anguish.

She'd never been quite as sure as everyone else that he was as head over heels for her as she was for him, but she'd hoped. Now every hope, every thought of future happiness with the only boy she would ever love, was destroyed, shattered, completely obliterated… just like her heart.

Unfortunately, in her mind at least, Danny saw her devastated expression before she turned away.

"Sam?" he asked. She shook her head and stood, walking away from him to the door. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked following her.

Sam searched desperately for an ounce of Goth indifference, but couldn't find enough to even think up a good excuse for her sadness, let alone stop the tears welling in her eyes.

Danny watched as Sam covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs. Though he no longer had his ghost powers, the sound of a tear hitting the floor echoed loudly in his ears.

An upset Sam was one thing. A _crying_ Sam was an _entirely_ _different_ thing. He'd never really learned how to handle crying females as his mom only cried at funerals, where his dad was there to comfort her; Jazz analyzed her emotions so consistently she rarely got to the point where tears were involved; and Sam… well, Sam was Goth.

If it had been a different situation he would have immediately started looking for whom to beat the crap out of. As it was, he could only stare in mute horror, reluctant witness to the pain he'd unintentionally caused the girl he only wanted to protect.

However, some instinct must have been buried deep in his subconscious, because when a sound that was undeniably a sob managed to escape her lips, he reacted.

Wrapping his fingers around her wrists, he gently pulled her hand from her face, simultaneously pulling her towards him. He arranged her arms around his waist, before wrapping his own limbs around her. Slowly, steadily he rubbed circles into her back, whispering his apologies for whatever he'd said to make her so upset, and promising he'd to his best to make it better.

Sam was mortified, but she couldn't stop the tears from flowing. She simply listened to Danny's soothing voice, letting its deep timbre relax her.

"Feel better?" Danny asked cautiously, when she'd stopped shaking. She nodded her head, but didn't move away from him. "Do you want to tell me what I said to make you so upset?"

She pulled away, swiping at her cheeks to remove any evidence of her breakdown.

"Nothing," she said turning away, "It was nothing."

For a moment Danny could do nothing but stare at her. After several moments he managed to say, "You can't do that."

She turned to look at him, an expression of confusion purposely plastered on her features. "Do what?" she asked.

"_That_," he replied, "You can't just burst into tears, which you _never_ do, and then not only not tell me what I said to make you upset, but act like you weren't upset in the first place."

Sam sighed; she knew that whenever Danny denied being upset, it pissed her off and that she didn't leave him alone until he told her what was wrong.

"It's written all over your face," she muttered.

"What made you upset is written on my face?" he asked. Sam looked up to find him rubbing his cheeks and forehead as if he'd be able to feel something written on his face. Though she rolled her eyes, the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile.

"No," she said. Her smile fell. "How much you love her."

"Oh," Danny said. His hand went up to rub the back of his neck, a clear sign that he was embarrassed, but she didn't spare time to wonder about it.

"Every ghost has an obsession. Your ghost half makes you obsessive, but your human half makes you obsessive about more than one thing."

"I'm not obsessive," Danny said defensively.

"Oh, really? Do you or do you not put your pencil in the exact same place on your desk in every class?" Silence. "Do you or do you not get the same lunch on certain days of the week, every week, and complain when the order is mixed up?" No answer. "Do you or do you not have certain excuses that you only use for certain teachers?" Not a word. "Yeah, that's what I thought. And that's just school; don't even get me started on your room."

"My room's a mess," Danny said smugly.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Where are your videogames? The few books you actually read? Your red Nikes?" Danny frowned when an image of where each thing was popped into his head. "Exactly," Sam said.

"Okay, so apparently I'm a little bit obsessive about some stuff," he ignored Sam's eye roll, "But what does that have to do with anything? What does it have to do with you getting so upset?"

"Danny, this girl, you really, really love her. It's so easy to see. There's a thin line between love and hate and an even thinner line between love and obsession. If you're not already more than a little obsessed with this girl it's only a matter of time before you are, and I'm getting the feeling she doesn't know you exist and…"

"She knows I exist," Danny interrupted, "She just doesn't know how I feel about her."

Sam paused for a moment then shook her head. "That's worse," she said staring at the ground.

"You sound like you speak from experience," Danny said frowning.

Sam ignored the comment and continued, "I just don't want you to spend your time pining for this girl and get your heart broken."

"Sam," Danny said softly.

"And," she said more quietly, "Remember when you got Doom 4? Tucker and I barely saw you until you beat it; that was like, a week. I feel like if you get this girl, you're going to disappear."

Danny remembered the incident and instantly felt awful for making Sam feel like he thought a videogame was more worth his time than she was. It was just, once he started playing, he couldn't bear to stop until he'd won. Danny made a mental not to talk to Jazz about his newly noticed obsessive tendencies, before returning his attention to Sam.

"I'm sorry. With the game I just…" he started.

"No, no, I get it. Once you started, you had to beat it. It's just, when you finally beat it, I asked you if it was that good, and you spent a half hour ranting about how bad it was. I'm still sure the only reason you stopped talking about it was because the Box Ghost showed up. If you spent all that time playing a game you didn't even like that much, you're definitely going to want to spend all your time with whoever this girl is."

"I already spend all my time with her," he blurted. '_Crap,_' he thought immediately after.

"You spend all your time with me and Tucker," Sam said shaking her head.

Danny quickly turned away, knowing even as he did it that it was the worst move he could possibly make. Unconsciously he rubbed the back of his neck.

Sam, wondering at his most obvious tell, mentally replayed what they'd been talking about. Danny was embarrassed because she'd said he spent all his time with her and Tucker. She'd said that because he'd said he already spent all his time with the girl he liked. He spent all his time with the girl he liked and he spent all his time with her and Tucker. He was embarrassed. Tucker wasn't a girl.

"Danny…" She hated the tremble in her voice, but she couldn't help it. "Do you… are you… is it… is it me?"

There was a long pause before Danny asked, "Is what you?" His voice was sad, resigned.

Sam took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Am I the girl? Are you… in love with me?" He was silent, silent for so long her hope began to fade.

She cursed herself for hoping, cursed him for being so easy to love in the first place, cursed fate for letting her fall in love with someone who would never love her back. She bent her head trying to keep the tears from spilling over; she'd cried enough for six months, let alone one day.

Then, suddenly, he was in front of her. She jerked her head upwards surprised by his sudden appearance in her field of vision.

Emotions flickered across his face at lightning speed, too quickly for her to decipher. He swept her into a hug and she instantly relaxed into the feeling of absolute safety she felt whenever she was in his arms.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"For what?" she sighed. She felt the movement of his head above hers.

"For me. I know you think of me as a best friend, a brother almost, but I really can't help how I feel about you. You're just… you're so amazing Sam, and you don't even realize it. I'm sorry that I can… realize it, I mean… not because I don't want to… it's just that the way I think you're amazing is different from the way Tucker thinks you're amazing and I… I'm sorry because I don't want you to feel bad about not feeling the same way about me. I'm sorry I made Tucker keep it from you. I'm sorry if this… how I feel… ruins our friendship. I'm just sorry."

"You still didn't answer my question," she said. Her voice was slightly muffled by the position of her face against his chest, but they'd discovered long ago that even without his powers he had better-than-average hearing. Sam tilted her head upwards anyway. "Are you in love with me?" she asked again.

Staring into her amethyst eyes, Danny was compelled by a force greater than himself to ignore his self-preservation instincts, to tell the truth.

"Yes." He barely had a moment to register Sam's brilliant smile before her lips were on his.

Kissing her was better than he ever imagined. Her lips were soft, like the petals of the flowers she cared so much for. Before Danny could stop himself he was swiping his tongue across her full bottom lip. Immediately she granted him entrance. Her mouth was warm and sweeter than anything he'd ever tasted. He knew he would never get enough.

Sam reveled in the battle of the tongues. He tasted like snowfall: cold and pure. Reluctantly she pulled away.

Looking up at him, her amethyst eyes shining with happiness, she said, "I love you, too."

"You do?" he asked. Surprise was written all over his face.

Sam gave him a questioning look. "What did you think me kissing you meant?"

Danny's hand left her waist to rub the back of his neck. "I don't know. 'I'm sorry I don't like you back, here's a consolation prize'?" Sam could barely keep herself from laughing. She wrapped her arms around his neck, simultaneously pushing herself onto the tips of her toes and pulling him towards her. She pressed their lips together. This time they didn't break apart until they desperately needed oxygen.

"Have I made myself clear?" she asked panting.

"I'm not sure," Danny said smirking, "Maybe you should explain a bit more?"

Sam smirked back and pulled him towards her.

-DxS-DxS-DxS-DxS-DxS-

The new couple sat against the back wall; this time instead of side by side, Sam sat sideways in Danny's lap. It had taken a while, but Danny had finally convinced her it wouldn't hurt him at all. Her head was nestled in the crook of his neck. His arms were wrapped around her, his fingers occasionally brushing against the exposed skim of her waist.

Sam revealed in the sparks the skin-to-skin contact induced. The Goth broke the comfortable silence. "How long have you liked me?" she asked tilting her head upwards.

Danny gave her an embarrassed smile. "Since freshman year."

Sam's eyebrows shot up as her eyes widened. "Really? That long?" Danny nodded, a soft pink hue adorning his cheeks. "I can't believe this," Sam groaned.

"Why?" asked curiously, "Have you liked me since then too?"

"No, since the eighth grade," she said absently; she didn't notice the shocked look on Danny's face. "But Tucker kept telling me that you liked me and I should just ask you out."

"He kept telling me the same thing about you," Danny responded. He looked down at her. "You're not going to try to get back at him are you?"

Sam shrugged. "I'm really not all that upset about it. I mean, he could have done this a number of different ways, but everything worked out. I might decide to lock him in a closet with Jazz though, see how he likes it."

"Why would you…?" Danny's voice trailed off. Sam watched as his confused expression changed to one of horrified understanding.

"He…"

"Likes her?" Sam finished. "Yeah, kind of a lot."

"Does she…?"

"Like him back?" she completed, smirking. "Yeah. Kind of a lot."

"How do you…?" Danny still couldn't finish a sentence.

"Know about it?" The Goth asked. "You're not the only Fenton that blushes." Sam's amusement faded when Danny continued to stare dazedly into space. "Danny? Are you okay?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah," he said unconvincingly, "I just _really_ didn't see that coming."

Sam snickered. "Yeah, it took me awhile to figure it out too." A thought occurred to her and she asked, "Would you be okay with it if they got together?"

Sensing the underlying threat in her voice, Danny chuckled. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, as long as they don't start making out in front of me or something."

Sam gave a small laugh. "Think about it this way," she smirked up at him, "She could be dating Tucker, who you know, or she could be dating some guy you don't know, who could be a creep."

Danny blinked and Sam watched as the thought settled into his mind. He nodded and looked over at her. "You ready to get out of here?"

Sam nodded; they'd figured out his powers would probably be back in about half an hour, but neither of them really wanted to wait that long. They were happy to spend time with each other, they just wanted to do in a more comfortable place.

"I'll text him first?" she asked.

"Sure," Danny agreed.

Sam pulled out her phone and texted Tucker: _Sam Manson._

Right after she pressed send, Danny texted him: _Danny Fenton._

Within a minute he had texted them back: _I'm gonna need some proof that's what you two really think._

Danny and Sam glanced from their phones to each other, before laughing. "Should we give him proof?" Danny asked.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Might as well. If we don't, he's not going to let us out of here." Danny raised an eyebrow.

"You do realize any 'proof' we give him will probably be forwarded to everyone we know right?" he asked.

"Definitely, you mean. And I really don't have an issue with people knowing I'm your girlfriend," she replied. Her voice was confident, but Danny didn't miss the way her hand reached up to tug on her ponytail; Sam always did that when she was nervous.

He reached out and pulled her towards him. "And I don't have any problems with people knowing I'm your boyfriend." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a short, sweet kiss. Pulling away, he pressed some buttons on his phone.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Making proof," he replied.

"Making proomph…" She was interrupted by him once more placing his lips on hers. She melted into the kiss with no protest, not even hearing the click when Danny used his phone to snap a picture; though, she did notice when his other arm wrapped around her waist to pull her closer.

They broke off the kiss when Danny's phone buzzed. It was Tucker: _Proof?_

"Yeah, yeah, I got your proof," he muttered.

"You do?" Sam asked.

Danny nodded and showed her the picture he'd snapped. The lighting was dim and the angle was slightly awkward, but it was clearly a snapshot of them kissing.

Sam smiled at the photo. "Send it to me too," she said.

"Found your new wallpaper, huh?" Danny asked amused.

"Shut up," she replied blushing. Danny said nothing more but smiled as he saved the picture, sent it to both Tucker and Sam, and made it his own wallpaper.

Sam's phone buzzed and she pulled away to post her new wallpaper.

Within a minute, they heard the door being unlocked. Their fingers intertwined as they walked quickly towards the door, relishing the idea of freedom.

The moment they stepped into the hallway, Danny felt a ripple of cold throughout his body; his ghost core was up and running.

Feeling his skin's sudden drop in temperature, Sam looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Powers back?" she asked.

"Yep," he replied; his exasperation was clear in his voice.

"Of course," she said shaking her head. Danny's only response was to shrug and give her a look that said 'What are you gonna do?'

"Finally," a familiar voice said. The newly formed couple turned to look at their friend. "It finally happened. You two are _finally_ together." The techno-geek somehow managed to look both on the verge of tears and incredibly smug.

"You shouldn't have locked us in there," Sam said furiously.

"Are you really that upset that I did?" Tucker asked. Sam rubbed her forehead.

"Look, Tuck, it's cool that you tried so hard to get us together, but couldn't you have picked a more comfortable place?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "It wasn't planned, Sam. The opportunity was there; I took advantage of it."

Sam opened her mouth to respond again, but was distracted by Danny's hand squeezing hers. She turned to look at her boyfriend, who had his other hand resting on his stomach. "C'mon, we're out of the closet," he paused and shook his head as realized the connotation of his words, but continued, "Let's just get out of here and find some food. I'm starving."

"Me too," Sam and Tucker chorused. The Goth turned to give him a questioning look.

"I wasn't going to just leave you two locked in a closet," he said. Looking offended, he gestured to the things he'd gotten from their lockers, "What if a ghost had attacked?"

The Goth gave him a considering look. She walked over and grabbed their things before turning back to Danny. "You okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," he nodded, grabbing his backpack from her hand, "Now that my powers are back it doesn't hurt as much. Plus, everything's healing anyway."

Tucker began to feel a little guilty for forcing his friend to stay in such a small, uncomfortable place while injured. But when Sam stood on the tips of her toes and tilted her head up, and Danny leaned down to kiss her, any and all guilt disappeared. His two best friends were finally together and that's all that mattered.

"All right, all right. That's enough of that. I'm in serious danger of losing my appetite and I'm a growing boy that needs food," he said as he walked past them.

Sam broke the kiss to go after Tucker, pulling Danny along with her. "I doubt anything could make _you_ lose your appetite. You were hungry even after we got splattered in ecto-ink from that stupid giant octopus."

The pair continued to bicker all the way to the Nasty Burger, with Danny occasionally adding his own input. It was the start of yet another weekend for the infamous Amity Park Trio.

-DxS-DxS-DxS-DxS-DxS-

On Monday, Danny and Sam were surprised by the amount of congratulations they received on their new relationship. They were even more surprised that people knew because they'd seen them kissing in the hallways, not because Tucker had forwarded them what had been dubbed "The Proof." They were less surprised and far from amused when they learned he'd been betting on when they would "stop living in denial and finally get together." Danny was quick to forgive, but Sam's thirst for vengeance was not so easily quenched.

That Friday, Tucker found himself locked in the janitor's closet with a certain red-headed, blue-eyed Fenton. However, the techno-geek and psychologist-to-be were nowhere near as stubborn as the halfa and the Goth. Danny and Sam, much to their respective horror and chagrin, received their own form of "proof" of proof not twenty minutes later.

That evening the two couples went on a double-date to the movies; the first of many.

**A/N: YAY! I finished my first multi-chap! Sorry to everyone who was hoping for a longer story; I hope you liked the ending, at least. Even though this is the last chapter, I would really appreciate it if you guys would review and tell me if you liked the story. Again, please tell me your favorite part, and if there was something you didn't like, tell me that too. I'm not sure how long it's going to be before I post another DP story, but hopefully it's soon. Thanks for reading, you guys. :)**


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